Pages

Friday, January 21, 2011

Slow Roasted Beef (Cook's Illustrated)

I am a huge fan of roast beef sandwiches. I prefer that my roast beef is rare, while my husband prefers medium. Either way, a fresh sourdough roll with mayo and deli mustard, Swiss cheese and sweet pickles is my winning formula.

NOTE UPDATE ON JULY 1, 2014: Wow! This photo has gone viral on Reddit! It's funny to read the comments-- that this meat is raw. It's fake. It has face with a tongue sticking out (funny, and true...never noticed that before.) Let me say one thing-- this roast beef was bomb-diggity. Yes. it's cooked exactly the way I like it! If it's too rare for y'all, then cook it some more. One person said it would dry up in 10 minutes and be a dry roast. Nope. Didn't happen. Anyway-- welcome Reddit Army! I'm cooking for real, without any photo shopping. Please be nice, and not steal this photo without linking back to this blog. I have some work to do, as I see it's been done. Thank you!

The problem is finding good deli roast beef. I often wonder how long the beef has been in it's shrink wrap package, and I prefer to eat grass-fed beef. I spotted a recipe in a food magazine (and I won't name it) for Salt-Encrusted Beef. I've always wanted to try the technique of making a salt-flour dough and wrapping it around beef. The magazine photo looked delicious. But...

..I ended up with an unappetizing piece of gray meat. I was so disappointed that even though I had cooked the meat to 130F, the meat continued to cook until it was well past done! Contrary to the recipe, I should have taken the meat out at 120F, and maybe I would have had better luck. In short, this recipe was a total bust, and I ended up caramelizing a lot of onion so I could make a palatable sandwich out of gray shoe leather. Unfortunately, the meat was very dry and I never posted that recipe. You can thank me for that!

While flipping through one of my many Cook's Illustrated cookbooks, this version of Slow Roasted Beef (January 2008) caught my attention. I always enjoy reading the article that precedes their recipes because Cook's Illustrated does a lot of homework to perfect each recipe-- and I have to say that I have yet to be disappointed. Here's a portion of the article, so that you can understand why this recipe worked:

First step: selecting the best cut for our roast. Our favorite, the eye-round, has good flavor and tenderness and a uniform shape that guarantees even cooking. Next step: choosing between the two classic methods for roasting meat—high and fast or low and slow. Low temperature was the way to go. Keeping the meat's internal temperature below 122 degrees as long as possible allowed the meat's enzymes to act as natural tenderizers, breaking down its tough connective tissue (this action stops at 122 degrees). Since most ovens don't heat below 200 degrees, we needed to devise a special method to lengthen this tenderizing period. We roasted the meat at 225 degrees (after searing it to give the meat a crusty exterior) and shut off the oven when the roast reached 115 degrees. The meat stayed below 122 degrees an extra 30 minutes, allowing the enzymes to continue their work before the temperature reached 130 degrees for medium-rare. Final step: seasoning. Salting the meat a full 24 hours before roasting made it even more tender and seasoned the roast throughout.

I made this recipe several months ago, but I wasn't thrilled with the photos. Since I'm home, healing from a winter cold, I'm editing some of the numerous food photos that I've been too busy to work on. I'm going to make this again, so I thought I'd share it with you-- overexposed photos and all...

On Cook's Illustrated's recommendation, I bought 2 pounds of grass-fed eye-round. The cost was $5.99 per pound, and I think it's well worth it. Grass-fed beef is leaner, by the way. It also tastes better, has a nice texture to it and it's hormone-free. What's not to love about that?

Sprinkle all sides of roast evenly with salt. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 18 to 24 hours.

Heat remaining tablespoon oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until starting to smoke. Sear roast until browned on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.(Sorry, the shot is a bit out of focus. I was using my older camera, which didn't shoot well in low light.) Now, Roast until meat-probe thermometer or instant-read thermometer inserted into center of roast registers 115 degrees for medium-rare, 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours, or 125 degrees for medium, 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 hours.

I have to say that my therma pen is one of my manyfavorite kitchen tools. It's accurate and has saved me from overcooking a lot of meat dishes! Now, that's what we're talking about! The color is beautiful and appetizing. Transfer roast to carving board and let rest 15 minutes.

Slice meat crosswise as thinly as possible and serve. The beef was juicy and flavorful. Next time, I'm adding garlic powder or my Susie-Q seasoning to give it more of an Italian flair.

This would be excellent served with creamy mashed potatoes and peas-- how traditional is that? This roast beef was destined for sandwiches....

I'm not thrilled with how the sandwich photo turned out. You'll have to take my word that I am very pleased to be able to make my own roast beef, at home. My hat's off to Cook's Illustrated. This one is a winner. In a way, this beef reminds me of the Santa Maria Tri-Tip recipe (without the unique smokey flavor) that I got from Cook's Illustrated. It's too cold to grill, so an oven method like this is a great winter substitute.

I always post a printable recipe card at
the end of each recipe post. If you cannot view it, you might be using
an older version of InternetExplorer. You should be able to view my
recipe cards with Safari, Mozilla, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.If you still can't view the recipe card, all of my recipes are stored on Key Ingredient, by clicking here.

37 comments:

Bonnie Barber
said...

Thanks for explaining how to do this and for taking such great photos. I really appreciate the time it must take you to do this. Question: can you use this method for other cuts of beef like a steak or tri-tip? chicken?

Bonnie, I have used this method with prime rib. Martha Stewart has a recipe that explains how. We grill our tri-tip, so I wouldn't know. With chicken, I'm not sure. I've never tried it. Thanks for stopping by.

You've cooked your roast perfectly, Debby. I love it pink too, and am always very disappointed when it overcooks by even a little bit. I've wondered about that salt method and am glad I never got around to trying it.

I always slow cook beef in my crock pot and love the way it turns out (in fact I have one on the go right now) - I've had too many issues with oven cooked beef - thanks for the oven post, you have given me hope to try again

I think the photo is great! It makes me want to have a sandwich right now. I love your honesty and that you shared that it didn't turn out right the first time. Looks like it would be the perfect cold winter night meal!

Ooh, that's a perfectly cooked roast. I like it rare too. And i don't know what you're talking about becaue that pic of the sandwich has me drooling. First I wanted tacquitos and now I want roast beef! ha!

I have found another way to do this...I use equal parts salt ..pepper & garlic powder to rub the roast...then cook at 500 for 7 minutes per pound (to sear) I then turn my oven to it's lowest (170) for 2 hours...comes out perfect...nice & pink

Dear Wissli:I responded to you, via email. On the right sidebar of my homepage, I provide a reason why you might not be able to view my recipe card and I provide a link to where ALL of my recipes cards are stored on Key Ingredient. I'm bewildered, because I can view my recipes cards using Mozilla, Google Chrome, Explorer (new version), Safari and in my iPad!

I use the Americas test kitchen recipe for eye roast and this cut is often on sale. It's a great deal and so tasty. I had never noticed this cut before and now i see it everywhere. I use my deli slicer to cut it evenly and although juice goes everywhere it fits nicely in my snap lock container and it makes it easy to grab a few pieces for lunch. We also roast this cut on the grill.

This is an awesome technique. I actually don't like deli roast beef-I find it has a stale flavor but this was absolutely delicious. Really beefy and very tender. I ate mine with a bit of dijon, which really helped to cut the richness. Also, since my oven actually goes down to 170 F, I roasted at that temp for about 2 1/2 hours until it was 135 then let it rest covered on the counter until it climbed to 145 since my family is a bit squeamish about rare meat.

I worked at an old general store in New England and this is how the 90 year old butcher cooked our roast beef for slicing in the deli. Awesome with gravy if you add some water and make some up and the left overs the next day sliced on a sandwich. WOW! Don't be afraid to cut the roast open to check it. You're going to slice it to bits anyway. Taking it out early and having to cook it longer is better than to overdone too late.

I worked at an old general store in New England and this is how the 90 year old butcher cooked our roast beef for slicing in the deli. Awesome with gravy if you add some water and make some up and the left overs the next day sliced on a sandwich. WOW! Don't be afraid to cut the roast open to check it. You're going to slice it to bits anyway. Taking it out early and having to cook it longer is better than to overdone too late.

Dear Howard, it is better to check a roast early. However, I never cut into it, because I want the juices to settle first. Otherwise, I could risk having a dry roast. I'm a big believer in a meat thermometer-- and I cook by temperature. It has never failed me!

Welcome!

Welcome to my internet kitchen. Please, sit back and relax, and watch me make delicious food and bakery recipes. Most of my recipes are simple, flavorful meals-- and a few baked treats. I focus on using fresh, seasonal ingredients and I try to avoid using boxed mixes and processed foods. I'm having fun learning how to cook like my grandmother once did-- from scratch! I hope that my step-by-step photos will inspire a timid cook to try them. Even if you're a seasoned cook, hopefully you'll learn a new tip or two.

If you have any questions,or just want to say "hello", please feel free to email me: foodiewife@gmail.com

For Potato Lovers (Like Me)

Grab A Button

Do you "Pinterest"?

Privacy Policy

This policy is valid from 30 August 2014

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.